Gina checked her messages as she walked back towards the incident room, mulling over the information Bernard had sent over.

Hannah hadn’t tried to contact her at all during the day, she doubted she would after the words they’d had. The morning seemed like a lifetime ago but the disappointment etched on Hannah and Gracie’s faces stayed with her. When she had handed the toddler over, the little girl’s bottom lip had quivered.

She placed her phone in her pocket; there was no use stalling and delaying the inevitable. The morning’s events couldn’t be dwelled upon any longer. She felt a sense of relief that the case had ended any thoughts of leaving early to go to the pub to celebrate Paula Wyre’s birthday. She hadn’t really wanted to go and sit alongside Briggs in a social setting. He’d known things about her that the others didn’t. She could have almost kicked herself for telling him what Terry had subjected her too, but he had been a good listener.

Over the past few weeks, the counselling she’d been attending had dragged so much up, muddying her thoughts. She was relieved the sessions had ended, that she had said all the right things at the end, convincing the counsellor she was fine. Her relationships and her fears over the attacks were all they’d concentrated on. She closed her eyes and thought back to one of the sessions.

She swallowed and began to tremble as the last case, in which she’d nearly been killed, played out in her mind. Her daughter was right. A man had tried to throttle her in her own home and she’d stared death in the face. Every time she sat working in that damn kitchen, she was transported back to that night. Then there was Terry, her abusive ex-husband. She’d revealed the depth of his violence towards her to Briggs, the counsellor and her daughter, but the deepest darkest secret remained within the confines of her mind. It didn’t matter how violent he’d been. The only thing that truly mattered was that she’d delivered the death shove from the top of those stairs. That she hadn’t called the ambulance until he had no pulse. There was a lot she had to be guilty about, but not now. She needed to find the van driver and act as though all was okay in her life.

She wished she had someone to confide in, someone to tell all her deepest secrets to, but people didn’t keep secrets. Secrets never remained secrets forever. A shiver ran up her spine even though the corridor was stuffy.

As she entered the incident room, she straightened up her top and smiled. ‘Happy birthday, Paula. I know this isn’t the night you had planned—’

‘Don’t mention it, guv. This is what I signed up for.’

‘Guv.’ Jacob nodded. Briggs seemed to be laughing about something with O’Connor at the opposite side of the room. She remembered when they laughed in that way but they hadn’t gone out much, always trying to hide their relationship. She remembered when he bought the suit he was wearing. He’d taken it out of the suit bag, stripped down to his underpants in his kitchen and tried it on, parading back and forth, asking what she thought. They’d laughed so much back then. But the past was the past.

Awkwardly, she stood in front of the incident board and cleared her throat. Briggs sat in the seat closest to her. A slight breeze travelled through the window, catching his hair, gently ruffling it. The smell of his aftershave entered her nostrils as she turned. Enjoying the moment, she inhaled further. She wondered if thoughts of her were going through his mind. If they were, he wasn’t giving anything away. Then again, neither was she. Her heart skipped a beat. Maybe the memories she’d had of Briggs were nothing more than a leftover feeling she was simply meant to enjoy.

‘Oh, happy twenty-first all over again,’ O’Connor said to Wyre.

‘Hey.’ Wyre tapped O’Connor on the shoulder. ‘I’m only a very young thirty-two. It’s still spring in my world.’ She stopped speaking for a moment and looked away. ‘Down to business, I suppose?’

Gina nodded, poured a glass of water from the jug on the main table and took a sip. ‘Right, we have the gorgeous little road that is Laurel Lane, lined with beautiful hedges and foxgloves.’ She pointed to the location on the wall map. ‘On an equally gorgeous day, a girl falls from the back of a van and she’s almost dead. What’s even odder is that Bernard has confirmed all her fingerprints have been burned off. Someone doesn’t want us to identify her, but who?’ Gina pondered over that thought. ‘That’s going to haunt me tonight. Or just maybe, she doesn’t want to be identified.’

‘Chris,’ called a piercing voice from across the room.

Gina turned to see Annie waving at Briggs, her blonde locks shining like she’d just stepped out of a shampoo advert. Annie of Corporate Communications seemed quite fond of him lately and she wondered if Briggs thought as fondly of her.

‘I thought Annie should be here. The press may want some information at some point and it’s important we come up with a plan. Annie and I will be working through that one,’ Briggs said as he pulled out a chair for Annie to sit next to him. He glanced up and smiled at Gina. Was he playing with her? Their break up was still recent and he seemed a little close to Annie.

‘I won’t keep you long.’ Gina grabbed her phone and scrolled on Facebook. ‘Just to update you all, the press have published a short article online and on their social media, releasing information about the van that we are looking for. A local community group called “What’s Up Cleevesford” shared their post for all the Cleevesford community to see. People have been tagged in the post – people with white vans. Those who tagged made smutty comments about their friends, jokingly accusing them of all sorts. I’ve noted the names of the people that had been tagged so far. O’Connor, can you follow up on them?’

‘Yes, guv.’

‘You all have leads to follow up on. Are we all clear on what we’re doing next?’

Everyone replied before beginning to discuss the missing fingerprints on the girl. Everyone pooling thoughts and ideas. Gina began to update the boards then glanced back, watching as Briggs and Annie spoke. They looked so cosy together.

Gina felt a flush of heat travelling through her body and a wash of nausea followed. She didn’t want to be there, she wanted to go home. Her hands trembled as she gripped the pen and a palpitation ripped through her chest. Find a reason to leave. Gracie is sick and Hannah needs to go to work. I forgot to feed the cat. I left my door unlocked. The excuses sounded pathetic but she had to choose one and make it quick. She needed to get out before she embarrassed herself. ‘I have to go. I think I left my door unlocked. I just wanted to go through what we have. Wyre, when you’re finished up here, go forth and enjoy your birthday celebrations. I’m going to work from home. If you need me, just call.’ She grabbed her bag, forced a smile and left.

‘See you tomorrow, guv,’ Jacob called.

She waved back as she walked away. At least her swift exit had got her out of going to the pub with everyone. She couldn’t do it. She didn’t want to be sociable, sitting in some pub watching Annie and Briggs flirt all evening. She wanted to go home, sit with her cat and watch reactions to the press release and that’s exactly what she was going to do.